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Monday, May 22, 2006

Hendrix Estate Crushes Radioactive Records and James Plummer in the High Court of the UK!

The April 24th decision in the High Court of England might signal the demise of Radioactive Records, but it hasnt put a stop to their illegal activity. Despite their statements to Bona Fide, and George Brigman, they contiue to peddle their unauthorized Brigman Jungle Rot CDs, and now are engaged in hurriedly dumping product in an attempt to dispose of it and generate cash. Most of their rare US psych reissues are merely unauthorized needle drops. Mr Plummer was also served cease and desist papers on his Bobb Trimble Harvest of Dreams CD and he continues to sell that as well. Curiously, a new CD label,Reclamation, has already released 3 Hendrix CDs not authorized by Experience Hendrix and they list Radioactive's Steven Carr as producer! What does it take to get the message out that these guys are simply ripping off everyone involved, from artists right down to consumers and retailers! I applaud the High Court of England and the Hendrix estate for exposing this corrupt operation! I wish them luck in attaining any settlement from Mr. Plummer! I encourage every legitimate distributor to just say NO to Radioactive product! They will continue to dump their shoddy, illegal product to any one willing, and we, the artists and labels affected, will actively challenge and stop anyone who wishes to sell these bootlegs. Ebay, Gemm, Musicstack and Amazon have been a great help in this struggle, and they will contiue to be allies and help when needed.

It would make sense simply to avoid any Radioactive CDs. We have a long list of bands who have not received a cent from Radioactive, and these bands are still being ripped off on a daily basis, and have no access to the legal support that the Hendrix estate could afford. The right thing to do here is to keep your own hands clean, and avoid the purchase or sale of these goods. Support the artists, not their bootleggers!

Following is the press release from Experience Hendrix, LLC, following their court victory:UK Legal Victory for Experience Hendrix

LONDON, UK (Experience Hendrix, L.L.C.) - Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. is pleased to announce a significant legal victory in the London courts. Experience Hendrix is the Seattle based company owned by members of the family of the late James Allen ("Al") Hendrix, the father of the international rock star Jimi Hendrix. Experience Hendrix owns and administers the rights to Jimi Hendrix recordings, songs and related properties. In late 2005, Experience Hendrix took action in the High Court in London against Sonicus Limited, (trading as Radioactive Records), and its distributor Blue Orchard Records, seeking to enjoin the unauthorized release of Jimi Hendrix recordings.

Sonicus, Radioactive Records, Blue Orchard, and Radioactive's proprietor Mr. James Plummer have agreed to a consent order that settles litigation regarding their unauthorized exploitation of various Jimi Hendrix recordings. Sonicus, Radioactive Records, Blue Orchard and Mr. James Plummer personally have agreed to immediately discontinue manufacturing, reproducing, selling, or distributing all Jimi Hendrix releases. They have agreed to forfeit and deliver up all existing copies of recordings whether in compact disc, vinyl LP, or picture disc format in their control to Experience Hendrix.

Radioactive Records had previously issued fourteen unauthorized Jimi Hendrix titles, many drawn from poor quality audio sources such as amateur, monophonic audience recordings. Radioactive claimed rights to manufacture and distribute this material under a license purportedly granted by longtime Jimi Hendrix litigant Ed Chalpin, presently acting under the guise of the Michael Jeffery estate, which he arranged to revive several years ago. Jeffery, who served as Hendrix's manager, died in 1973. Jeffery has no claim to any portion of the Jimi Hendrix estate or the rights owned and exploited by Experience Hendrix.

Mr. Chalpin instigated a lawsuit in the United States in 2001 asserting the same claims (in the name of the elderly former ancillary administrator of the Michael Jeffery estate in New York, now deceased). The New York court rejected that claim as a "meritless" fabrication.

Experience Hendrix also obtained a legal injunction against Mr. Chalpin (and his company PPX Enterprises Inc.) in July 2002 that restricts Mr. Chalpin and PPX from issuing, releasing or licensing the exploitation of any Jimi Hendrix recordings, other than 33 Curtis Knight & The Squires masters largely recorded in 1965 when Hendrix was an unknown sideman before he gained international fame in 1967 fronting the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Mr. Chalpin has since defaulted on payment of a significant costs order that was awarded to Experience Hendrix in that litigation.

Experience Hendrix is pleased that this action has now concluded, and will continue its active efforts to combat piracy of its Jimi Hendrix recordings and rights. "We are pleased that we have been able to remove these inferior bootlegs from the marketplace," states Janie Hendrix, President and CEO of Experience Hendrix. "These unauthorized releases only serve to confuse and disappoint Jimi's unsuspecting fans throughout the world. We shall continue to fight piracy and the unauthorized exploitation of Jimi's great legacy." Any retailer who continues to carry Jimi Hendrix product deriving from Sonicus/Radioactive Records risks legal action

11 Comments:

Radioactive records has also ripped off my 1971 LP, Euphoria Blimp Works Presents Yama and The Karma Dusters "Up From The Sewers" with an unauthorized rerlease. We have sent them cease and desist orders with no reply. We are pleased that the Hendrix estate has used their resources to stop the theives at Radioactive Records. Do you have any additional information to help us..

That's really too bad. Unfortunately radioactive put out some nice vinyl. Now it isn't available. I'm sorry but someone needs to expose the younger generation to the obscure music of yesteryear. And that was the cost...

Fallout Records is a direct descendent of Radioactive Records, a controversial record label that recently had to shutter it's doors thanks to some lawsuits won by the Jimi Hendrix estate. It seems the owner of Radioactive Records issued a slew of Hendrix live tapes brought to them by an outside party without permission from the Hendrix family, which is why they were ended up on Radioactive instead of the Hendrix estate's own label. During the trial it became well known that Hendrix wasn't the only artist being ripped off by the label. Radioactive Records specialized in issuing rare psyche albums from the 1968 to 1973 period but instead of licensing the albums from the previous labels or artists themselves, Radioactive would just sell "needle drops" of those rare albums.

For those who don't know, a "needle drop" is a term for a CD recording made from a regular vinyl album and not a master. In other words, most Radioactive releases are bootlegs, albeit authentic looking bootlegs.

When Radioactive closed down, Fallout suddenly came to life and one can only think that Fallout is doing business the exact same way. So, just for your knowledge, whenever you purchase a Radioactive Records or Fallout Records release musicians are not being paid for their work and most often they will be "needle-drops" as is this release. I say this not to criticize the policies of this label, just to let people know so they can make an informed choice when and if they decide to spend money on this label's merchandise.

I just recently learned that my deceased fathers album has been released without our knowledge or consent. Dryewater was a small town band, my father played the drums. As it states there were a few hundred copies made, and we have an original vinyl.So this company gets ahold of a copy and decides lets sell it. I was completely outraged at this and find it disgusting how this so called label is stealing these albums and using them for their personal profit.

This is the letter I initially sent Amazon.com. They have been selling our band's album, "That Did It !" on the Internet for over three years:

Please be advised that I am one of the members of a band called the "Novelles." I was merely calling to tell you how elated all the band members are that you are selling our album "That Did It."

We just wanted to let you know where you can send the royalties:

Ed Benson23402 Mammoth Cave DriveLaguna Niguel, CA 92677

For more information on our band, please visit our website at:

www.myspace.com/novellesahappening

Please read the following:

Public Law 102­307, enacted on June 26, 1992, amended the 1976 Copyright Act to provide for automatic renewal of the term of copyrights secured between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977. Although the renewal term is automatically provided, the Copyright Office does not issue a renewal certificate for these works unless a renewal application and fee are received and registered in the Copyright Office. Public Law 102­307 makes renewal registration optional.

The album was not sold under Radioactive (as your albums suggest) but was recorded at Paramount Studies in California. The label is "Mother Records" as clearly stated on the original album and is also stated on the inserts in the Novelles CDs you are (where) selling. They purchased the album from Radioactive and even after being informed to neither buy or sell anything by Radioactive, Amazon continued to do so.

"Radioactive was taken to the High Court in England for illegally selling unauthorized illegal material by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and are bogus. They claimed to have gone out of business but continue to peddle illegal recording material."

With all due respect we are the creators of the album. Under the Copyright Act and under Public Law 102307 we remain protected.

Should you have any questions or wish to discuss this matter in greater detail please do not hesitate to call me at 949-280-9388. I appreciate your expedited response and look forward to your anticipated reply.

This sucks. I just purchased a CD copy of the Bakery album "Momento" via Amazon, unaware of the RadioActive label tactics until now. Having said that, I'm going to keep the CD, but I will have to be wary of any other releases by RadioActive or Fallout in the future. Anyone have an original Bakery "Momento" vinyl they're willing to let go reasonably priced? :)

In case anyone reading this isn't alread aware, the people behind Radioactive / Fallout records are now trading as Pheonix Records. They're still peddling inferior-sounding needledrops, including versions of some Lps that are still officially available through other labels (such as the two Silver Apples albums, and Fifty Foot Hoses's "Cauldron").

Having unwittingly bought Radioactive's reissue of Henske and Yester's "Farewell Aldebaran" (not realising it was a boot), I'd agree that listeners should avoid these hucksters at all cost.

All he's done is changed the name to Pheonix records (rising from the ashes geddit?) and is still ripping artists off (those that don't have lawyers that is)... Avoid Pheonix records as well, it's more moraly acceptible to download the stuff from blogspots. He's resorting to putting limited edition stickers on cd's to try and give them more cred, just a joke of a label no respect for the music or the artists.